Part One: Dark Clouds

She hated him.

Somewhere, amongst
the crowd, she sat with sorrow in her eyes. It was clear that she must be
waiting for someone, but no one dared to ask if she was alright or lonely. Rumor had it that she had been sitting there for almost
an hour now. No one said anything to her, but she didn’t care. All she cared
about was being abandoned by the one she was supposed to trust.

She was waiting at
a small local carnival. Most of the kids her age were having fun on the rides
or with their friends. Instead, she was alone… again. She hated it. Sighing,
she dropped her head, trying to hide the tears in her eyes. The tough persona
that she had tried to build up around her was quickly falling to pieces.

Her parents had
tried to warn her about him and about most boys in general. They said, “All
boys think about is sex.” But, she thought that he was different. She thought
that he would wait for her. He told
her that he would wait for her. But…her parents were right, again. If only she had actually taken
their advice. Instead, she listened, pushed it from her thoughts, and never
brought him up again. She tried her best not to upset her parents. They had
enough stress over her two siblings to worry about her. For once, she went
against their wishes, and this was how it paid off?

She dreaded the
inevitable, “I told you so.”

Still, she waited.
She was hopeful that her fortune would change. That he would sweep her off her
feet and carry her away to her destiny. Of course that was a dream and would
never come true. Not for her. She didn’t know why, but every time she liked a
guy, someone else always stole him away.

Of course it was
the worse when she actually learned that Mark and Kimmy were more than just
close friends. There had been many rumors going around that Mark was cheating
on her, but no one knew who with, or at least no one would say. Besides that, she
never wanted to believe it. She finally had a boyfriend and there was no way
she was just going to let him go so easily.

That was until she
ran straight into her greatest fear come true. Falling down the stairs that day
not only hurt her head, but her pride, as well as her heart. It was from her
spot on the floor that she saw a disgusting sight. Mark had Kimmy pushed up
against the lockers and his mouth was all over hers along with his hands all
over her body. She wasn’t quite sure how they didn’t hear her fall, but all she
knew was she had to get away as fast as she could.

So now, here she
was, quietly waiting for Mark to finally show up for their date. She had even
dressed up for the night: new jeans, a black mid-drift, and the kaki jacket
that her grandma had given her for Christmas. It wasn’t anything fancy, but she
had secretly hoped to impress him. She was praying that he would really come. But,
as of now, he was already an hour late and he had said something about seeing someone
beforehand. Her heart grieved from the ache that was reaching her soul. There
was nothing else she could do except break up with him.

Already she had
decided this would be the night. This was it, she was finally going to end
it…but she couldn’t carry out her plan if he didn’t show up.

She sighed heavily
and lay down on the bench. Her eyes were watching the stars, hoping that they
would answer her prayers. There was no answer. They were just watching her in
pain.

Giving up on hope,
she closed her eyes. With that, she tried her best to hide away from the world.
From that pain that was clouding her heart.

Attendance was
high for such an event. There were so many fun rides to experience that no
child could refuse. Neither could the children at heart whose imaginations were
full of expectations of cotton candy, caramel apples, love, and even…deceit?

Somewhere, within
the carnival, a romance was continuing to blossom and was growing into a full
blown affair. Though the consummation of their relationship had already taken
place, it was only now that their hearts were starting to fall for each other.
If only his girlfriend knew that.

A petite teenager
with tan skin and dyed purple hair looked around the carnival from her
position. She and her lover had been riding the Ferris Wheel and had stopped
with them at the top. She could see all of the people below that had come out
to the local carnival that were eager to experience the events. She smiled, knowing
there was one girl down there who came to the carnival with certain intensions
that would never be fulfilled.

Devona…

The name brought a
bitter taste to her mouth. She was still reminding herself that Devona was
Mark’s girlfriend…according to the laws of dating anyway. Mark asked Devona
out, Devona said yes, they kissed, held hands, hugged and that was it. However,
she was the one that really brought Mark true pleasure. What he wanted and what
he needed.

But, once again,
according to the laws of dating, Mark was still attached to Devona. Kimmy
didn’t know if he ever would break up with Devona. He seemed to be enjoying
this sad game, and, honestly, Kimmy had enjoyed it at first as well.

A strong gust of
wind blew her purple hair into her face, blocking the people of the carnival
from her view. She struggled to shake the hair from her eyes, but a strong hand
quickly pushed it aside for her. It was then that her attention was brought
back to the reason she was here in the first place: Mark.

“What are you
looking at? You should be looking at me,” said the jock with a very cocky
smile.

Kimmy was
disgusted for a second, but it was quickly replaced by her own cocky smile. She
reached over and gently squeezed the inside of his leg. Mark gasped and leaned
closer to her.

She smirked and
whispered in his ear, “Remember Mark, you’re the one who is really gaining from
this whole thing. Don’t piss me off or you’ll be back to being deprived.”

Before he could
even think of a response, her hand was gone from his leg. She leaned back into
the bucket seat with evil intentions in her eyes. Their depths spoke of what she
and Mark had done right before attending the carnival. That thought alone sent
shivers down Kimmy’s spine.

He couldn’t help
himself, she could tell by the desperate look on his face. He quickly slipped
his arm lower down her back and around her waist. He pulled her close to him.
He lowered his lips to her neck and started to give her his ultimate form of
praise.

“God, you’re so
hot,” he whispered.

She was
unimpressed. She knew this whole thing was fun. She loved playing with Devona’s
heart, since they had never seen eye to eye, but this was getting old. Before
he could take his adventure any further, Kimmy pushed him away from her. The
shocked look on his face asked the question before he could

“Damn it, Mark!
You can’t keep doing this to me.”

“Doing what?” he asked.

She gave an
exasperated sigh, crossing her arms firmly over her chest. With a roll of her
light brown eyes she answered him. “This whole cheating thing, it’s really
getting old. If I’m so damn hot, why don’t you dump that dumb blonde and just go
out with me?”

He looked
confused, “I thought you liked this.”

She corrected him,
“I don’t like the fact that she is going out with you. I was the one you were
supposed to ask out in the first place. If that had happened, then you wouldn’t
have been with Devona and we never would have to keep pretending like this
isn’t really happening. Why did you go out with her in the first place? You
knew you weren’t going to get any.”

“Any what?”

She rolled her
eyes again, “Oh, don’t play stupid.”

Sorrow quickly
appeared on his face, which was something that Kimmy really wasn’t expecting.
He sighed and put his hands on his head, hiding his face from her. Kimmy was
shocked. This was not what was supposed to happen. He was supposed to say,
“You’re right, I’ll break up with her tonight.” Not have a nervous breakdown
over her finally pointing out the truth.

After a few
moments of her attempting to catch her breath she asked, “Why?”

“I honestly don’t
know,” was his only reply.

The bitter taste
returned to Kimmy’s mouth and her face revealed the same bitterness. “Don’t
tell me you actually love her?”

Silence was his
only response. Kimmy could feel her heart breaking. This must have been how
Devona would have felt if she had known the truth. Either way, it was all over
now. Kimmy couldn’t wait to get off of that stupid ride.

“Devona?” a voice
asked.

Devona slowly opened her
blue eyes to find a pair of brown ones gazing down on her. She gasped and
quickly sat up on the bench. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep. Devona turned her
attention back to the girl who had woken her up. Above her stood a small Asian
girl, looking down at her with worried eyes.

Rose. She was
Devona’s best friend, even if her sister was evil. It just so happened that
Rose and Kimmy were siblings, though they both often denied it. Kimmy was older
by two years, making her the same age as Mark. So of course she was pissed when
Mark picked a sophomore over her. Or at least, that was what Devona had
assumed.

Eventually Devona
came back to reality and began to listen to what her friend had to say.

“Devona? Are you okay?”
asked Rose.

Devona tried her
best to just laugh it off, but Rose’s eyes still watched her with concern.
Devona stopped laughing and answered her friend’s question.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I
was just waiting for Mark to show up. I guess he’s really not going to. What
time is it?”

Rose pulled out
her cell phone and illuminated the screen, “It’s almost 11:00.”

Devona’s jaw dropped,
“Are you serious!”

“Why?”

Forming her hands
into fists Devona leapt to her feet with fire blazing in her eyes. “Mark was
supposed to meet me here, right here, at 9 o’clock sharp! He promised he would
be here exactly at 9, but is he here? No! Did he ever show up? No!”

Rose jumped to stand next to her, “Maybe he
did and you were sleeping so you missed him,” she said, trying to dampen the
situation.

“Really Rose? You
think a good boyfriend would just let his girlfriend sleep on a bench while she
was waiting for him to show up and not even bother to wake her?”

Rose bit her lip, “Well,
I think we have already determined that Mark is not the best boyfriend .”

Devona sat down on
the bench and sighed. “Yeah, well your sister isn’t the greatest person in the
world either.”

“Hey,” Rose
angrily sat next to her, “don’t bring Kimmy into this. Maybe she’s not actually
with him right now…maybe he…uh…”

“Got stuck in
traffic…at 9 o’clock at night?”

“They were doing
some road work.”

“They are always
doing road work Rose. It never makes anyone two hours late!”

Rose sighed and
leaned against the back of the bench. “I’m really sorry Devona,” she whispered.
Devona looked over at her friend to find Rose hanging her head in shame. “I
wish that this whole thing went better for you. You were so excited when Mark
first asked you out. Now, it might be ove—”

“Oh no, I’m
definitely dumping him.”

Rose looked up at
her, “I’m really sorry.”

“It’s not your
fault.”

“But she’s my
sister. I just hope she really isn’t helping him cheat on you.”

“I’m pretty sure
she is.” Considering I saw them making
out in the hallway…

“Well,” Rose said
as she got back up to her feet, “I’m heading home and I suggest that you do the
same.”

“How are you
getting home?” inquired Devona.

Rose giggled, “The
guy that works at my booth with me offered me a ride home…he is really hot.”

“How old is he?”

“Only...22…”

“I don’t think
he’s interested in a seventeen year old Rose.”

“Hey, I can still
look. What about you?”

“I drove here, in
my car. You know, since I actually got my license last year when I turned
sixteen.”

“Ha ha, you think
you’re so great with your car, but maybe, I don’t want to drive.”

Devona smiled, “Or
maybe your dad won’t let you.”

Rose shook her head
and smiled, “Good night, Devona. I think you should probably get home too. Just
give up on Mark for now. Call him up and dump him later…or just text him. I
don’t think he deserved anything more.”

Devona laughed
quietly and stood up as well, “I think I’m going to have to. Thanks for waking
me up Rose. You’re a good friend.”

Rose smirked and
hugged her quickly, “No problem, I didn’t want you to get raped or anything.”

Rose laughed. “Hey,
I was just joking. Go on, go home.” Then, she paused. “Are you sure you’re okay
to drive? You still seem tired.”

“I’m fine. Don’t
treat me like a baby.”

“Sorry…I just
don’t want you to die.”

“I’m not going to
die!”

“Okay, okay,
sorry, just hurry up and get home, okay?”

“Good night Rose,
I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Night Devona, be
safe.”

Devona watched as
her friend ran over to the guy she had spoken of. He was really cute with light
tousled blond hair and a great build and height, but of course way too old for
either of them. Devona couldn’t help but wonder if she should have been the one reminding Rose to be safe. Rose had
never had a boyfriend before and was eagerly looking for one…even one that
might be unattainable. Devona just hoped that this random carni could be
trusted. She had forgotten about Rose’s job at a gaming booth. Devona was
supposed to stop by and see Rose before she met up with Mark…but Devona was
more concerned about seeing Mark than checking in with her own best friend.

She pressed her
hand to her forehead, attempting to suppress the newly forming headache. “Relationships
are stupid,” she whispered. Devona sighed and turned to where she parked her
car.

Elsewhere in the
carnival, a group with peering eyes watched from a distance. They had a mission
and were eager to see it through. A few people stopped and stared at them,
noticing their strange clothes, but they soon continued on. None of the people
had any idea of what these peoples’ presence in this world represented. They
didn’t know of the darkness that clouded the space between Heaven and Earth. Hopefully,
if all went according to plan, they never would.

Each of the group
set out in search of their destiny. They paid off, all but one. More determined
than the rest, he took off, desperate to find who he was looking for.

Devona yawned as she
walked, trying to find her way out of the carnival. Maybe it would have helped
if she actually could remember where she parked. But, she had been too worried
about Mark to even care about that at the time. She parked, marched in, found
her bench in front of the balloon dart game and waited. Now she was really
regretting her carelessness.

It seemed as though this
carnival was getting larger every year. They were always adding to the labyrinth
of rides and gaming tents. Perhaps, she should have taken Rose up on that offer
to have random guy drive her home. But Devona was never so careless. She didn’t
trust “random guy.” Maybe she should have tried harder to convince Rose to come
with her. That would have probably been the most logical solution. At least
they would have been lost together…and safe.

Devona pulled out
her cell phone, hoping she had some missed calls or a few texts from Mark.
Nothing. She thought about calling Rose, begging her to let Devona give her a
ride home. But, as much as Devona didn’t trust “random guy,” Rose did. She
didn’t want to spoil Rose’s attempt at love, even if he was “random guy.”

Devona sighed and
put her phone away as she came to another intersection between gaming booths
and rides. This was all just too much for her to handle tonight and her brain
wasn’t working properly. She forced herself to concentrate on the scenery
around her.

To the left were
the swings, she knew for sure she did not park by them, she always hated those
swings. In front of her were the kiddy rides bright with color and held no
interest to her. However, to the right were some of the bigger rides including a
tilt-a-whirl and Chaos. From what she remembered she heard a lot of people screaming
when she first arrived. Maybe that was where she parked! Maybe…

“Hopefully I can finally blow this popsicle
stand,” Devona laughed.

“Would you like a popsicle?”
a voice asked from behind her.

Slowly Devona turned
to see a small metal stand behind her with a cranky looking old lady running
it. Above her was a sign that read, “Ice Cold Popsicles.”

Devona shook her
head, “Well, you know it’s a saying…I was lost…” The woman looked confused and
reached into the metal cart in front of her to look for a popsicle. Devona
raised her hands quickly and waved in a stopping motion. The woman realized her
mistake and stood up tall in silence. Devona laughed a bit and walked away
whispering. “That’s not even funny...”

Devona made her
way toward where she thought her car
was parked. In her mind danced dreams of sleep, hot single boys and even more
sleep. She was looking forward to going home and crashing for the weekend. This
whole relationship was putting far too much pressure on her and she couldn’t
take it anymore. Though she was dreading having to break up with Mark, even
after all the crap that he put her through, it wasn’t going to be easy. But
there was no way she could keep this up any longer. She had to break up with
him as soon as possible.

Devona shook her head
and whispered to herself, “Don’t think about that right now. Just think about getting home and sleeping,
that’s all that matters.”

As she was walking
along, she heard the footsteps of someone running toward her. She didn’t pay
any attention, assuming that it was some kids who were eager for the next ride.
But as the footsteps got louder they demanded her attention.

She glanced up
just in time to see a tall dark man running straight at her. She gasped, and
tried to move out of the way, but it was too late. The man ran into her at full
speed, catching them both off guard. Devona cried out as the man’s body slammed
into her and she lost her balance. Next thing she knew, she was lying in the
dirt with the man on top of her.

Oddly enough, it
felt nice to have this him so close to her. She blushed trying to remind
herself that a random stranger had just knocked her down and that he could be
the ugliest thing she had ever seen…but she hadn’t seen his face yet.

Slowly, she opened
her eyes to find the man’s own eyes watching her intently. After one peek at
him, her eyes flew open in shock.

Oh no…he was definitely
not the ugliest thing ever.

The man had brown
hair that was just a little too long. His bangs fell down in front of his face,
but she could see enough to know he was probably one of the hottest guys she had
ever seen. His skin was tan and she could tell he probably worked outside a
lot, or just worked out a lot. She could feel his chest muscles pushed against
her and that only caused her to blush even more.

Probably his most
striking features though were his deep yellow eyes. They were something that
Devona would expect to find on a predator, something that she had never seen
before on a human. Those eyes were just simply amazing. She couldn’t look away
from them.

She could feel the
man’s breathe on her face and that made her shudder. Never before had a guy had
this affect on her. She felt as if she were falling into an abyss that she
never wanted to get out of. Then again, it could just be the fact that she had
never been this close to a guy before, not even Mark. Now that was sad.

Eventually the man
began to push himself off of her. At first, she was a little upset by the
sudden loss of contact. Then she came crashing back down to reality. She didn’t
even know this guy and he just came running from nowhere and knocked her flat
on her ass.

Her anger was building
and she glared up at him. He looked confused and opened his mouth to speak but
she interrupted him.

“Hey sir, do you
think you could at least watch where you’re going?” Devona yelled at the man as
loud as she could. She was sure that someone around had heard her. But with
quick glances in every direction she noticed that there was no one around. She
then got worried. Oh great…Rose was
right…I am going to get raped.

The man’s shocked
eyes quickly turned angry and Devona suddenly regretted yelling at him. Without
another word the man jumped to his feet, leaving Devona lying on the ground.
She now got a good look at him. He was tall, probably over six feet tall, and
slightly muscular, but not too much, just the way Devona liked guys to be. She
could easily tell that his chest was defined through that button up silver shirt…wait,
what the hell was he wearing?

Sure, the shirt
wasn’t quite too far out, but it was rather weird. It wasn’t baggy like the
shirts that most guys wear. It was tight and tucked into his blue bell bottoms?
Not to mention his white platform shoes. Devona was beginning to reconsider the
hotness of this guy.

She looked back up
at his face to see he was still angry. When their eyes met again, he quickly
looked away, as if he were looking for someone. After a few seconds, he looked
back down at Devona to find her still staring at him. He sighed and lowered his
hand toward her.

“Do you need a
hand?” he asked. She could tell that he was really annoyed, but it was one of
the sweetest things that anyone had ever done for her. She didn’t waste a
second and grabbed his hand tightly. Another blush lit her cheeks as she
watched him intently.

With a slight tug
he was able to pull her back up to her feet. The pull, as slight as it was, was
still a little too strong for Devona. She found herself pressed up against his chest
again.

Their eyes found
each other once more and she couldn’t turn away if her life depended on it.
There was just something about this man that called her soul to pay attention
to him and only him. She forgot all about her anger and fear of this man and
only remembered the passion that she felt right at that moment.

Their lips were so
close, but since he was taller than her, he would have to lean down to seal the
deal. As lucky as Devona had been up to this point, she knew there was no way
that her luck could be quite that good tonight.

They both realized
just how close they were and stepped back from each other. Devona blushed and
looked down at the ground as the man shook his head as if he were trying to
remember something.

Slowly their eyes
met once more, finally ready to discover why they had run into each other.

“Sorry,” they both
said at the same time. Devona laughed and the man just smirked, she could tell
it wasn’t a common occurrence for him.

Before Devona
could say anything else, the man began to talk again.

“I’m really sorry
about all of this. I’m…in a hurry, I didn’t see you. This isn’t good, because
I’m supposed to be looking for someone. I’m really sorry,” he seemed to be
trying to over explain himself. She wasn’t quite sure why, but she didn’t
really care.

She smiled and
waved her hand a bit, “Oh, don’t worry about it, hot guys knock me down all the
time.” After she said that she noticed the confused look on his face. She
gasped and put her hands over her mouth, realizing the negative connotation
that could go with such a line. “Oh no…they don’t…I mean…” Now she was the one
babbling.

Oh, I hope he doesn’t
think that I was serious…hot guys never randomly run into me unless they are
pushing me out of the way in the halls. Oh God…what if he took that to be a
sexual metaphor! What if he thinks I’m a slut! Oh no! What am I going to do! I
probably just ruined any chance I could ever have with this guy!

As her brain continued to fight amongst its
self, the man watched her with questioning eyes. It was as if he were trying to
read her and find out who she really was.

He was trying to
figure out the meaning of her words, but he was still really confused. Hot
guys? He put his hand to his face, he was a little flush from running and the
whole encounter, but he didn’t think that he was hot. She seemed too upset for
her to only mean that he was hot. There must have been something else to what
she said that he didn’t understand.

However, this girl
made his heart beat in ways it never had before. He could still feel her
pressed up against his body. It was
something he hadn’t felt in years. For the first time since before the whole
“incident” he felt like a teenager, almost innocent…

Her unique smell
was something mixed with vanilla and strawberries. Even though she now stood
six feet away from him he could still smell her, every inch of her…

He shook his head,
trying to return his heart rate back to normal. The Princess was still out
there somewhere and he had to find her. Since he didn’t really trust the others
to do so, the burden fell upon him.

He looked back at her.
He was ready to give her one last apology and push her from his life forever
just as she had entered it. Then he noticed something else about her. It was something
that he wasn’t quite sure how he had missed before.

As she laughed at
her own stupidity, she was surrounded with a light blue glow that only could be
explained as heavenly. His jaw dropped as visions entered his head of a woman
dressed entirely in white and gold holding a sword. She had her back to him as
her long blonde hair blew in the wind. Slowly, she turned her head to face him
and gave him a smile as the vision vanished.

He couldn’t breathe…

Just as the Princess will
recognize the location of her Star Point, you will recognize her.

She’s…this girl…is the
Princess?

Finally she was
over her embarrassment and found him simply staring at her. He could tell that
she was a little uneasy from his gaze. He just couldn’t help but stare. This blonde
beauty that smelled of vanilla and strawberries was actually the Princess he
had been looking for.

Of course, he thought, she has to be beautiful…she’s a Princess.

“Um…” said the
girl, bringing him back to reality. She slowly took a step back from him, but
he couldn’t allow that to happen, so he stepped even closer to her. She blushed
once again and finished what she was going to say. “I…uh…I have to get going.
It’s getting really late and I was supposed to be home an hour ago. Maybe I’ll
see you around sometime.”

“No,” was his only
response.

Her face suddenly
became scared and she took another step away from him, “No?”

“I’m sorry. I
can’t let you go Princess.”

Now her face just
turned to one of shock mixed with horror. She wasn’t sure what he was thinking,
but she knew that it couldn’t be good. Devona was frantic and turned to run
away, but he was one step ahead of her. He reached out and grabbed her hand,
pulling her to a firm stop.

She turned to face
him, sending her hair flying in the wind only to meet his very serious eyes. Her
jaw fell open as she struggled to get her hand free from his.

“Please…let me
go…I just want to go home,” cried Devona.

He must have
sensed the fear in her voice and noticed the tears building in her eyes. But there
was no reaction to her plea and Devona knew she was screwed. With her free hand
she beat against his chest and tried to pull away from him. However, he was too
strong, immediately she was regretting being so attracted to those
muscles.

He pulled her
close to him again so that his mouth rested directly above her ear. She
continued to struggle against him and continued to hit him. He grabbed her fist
and shushed her.

“Don’t be afraid,
I’m not going to harm you. There is no time to explain right now, but please
just cooperate with me and you won’t get hurt.” Oh great, as if that didn’t
sound like something a crook would say.

Without another
word, he released her hand and reached under her to lift her up into his arms.
As she was cradled in his arms, part of her almost felt safe for some reason. Right,
almost…but she wasn’t going to be kidnapped or raped with out a fight!

“Help!”

Before she could
shout anymore, his hand clamped over her mouth. She wanted to bite him so badly,
but he held her too tightly to allow that. Devona glared up at him and he
looked confused. How could he be so confused about her fighting for her life?

She struggled,
tried to punch, kick, wiggle free, but it was all for naught. Eventually, he
dumped her off on a bench. Another bench…and under close examination it was the
same one from earlier. Oh great…

Just as she
prepared to scream again, she heard a small voice.

“You found her!”

Devona turned to
see a young girl running toward her. She looked like she was probably around nine,
with straight brown hair just above her shoulders and electric green eyes. Her
smile was so inviting that Devona couldn’t help but calm down.

The little girl
giggled and waved at Devona with hands that under were hidden under the sleeves
of her denim shirt that hung over them. How could a man that was trying to
kidnap her be involved with such a cute little girl? Maybe he was telling the
truth and maybe he wasn’t going to hurt her.

“Good work Ulric.”

It was then that
Devona noticed the large man behind the girl wearing a bright orange shirt with
pink peace signs on it. Even if his shirt spoke of peace, his body language did
not. He crossed his arms over his muscular chest and watched her from under
long black hair with curious blue eyes.

“She is the
Princess,” said the man whose name apparently was Ulric.

Why did he insist
on calling her that? The only person who ever was allowed to call her that was
her father and he would kill these men if he were here now. Devona was ready to
scream again when the little girl put her hand on Devona’s leg. Devona looked
up to see the girl smiling at her.

“It’s going to be
alright!”

“I’m glad you
think so,” whispered Devona.

Devona looked
around, besides the people in the small group there was no one around. All the
tents were closed and the rides were quiet. The only sound was the hum of
traffic leaving. Had she spent so much time trying to find her way out? There
literally was no one to hear her scream. She prayed that this little girl was
right.

“I should have
known that you would be the one to find her,” said another female’s voice.
Devona turned to see a girl with long red hair wearing a blue and green tie dye
shirt with blue bellbottoms. Another man stood next to her the girl wearing a
shag green vest and Devona lost all hope. Why were they all dressed as if they had
just stepped out of the seventies?

“Yeah, good job, I
guess,” said the man in shag.

“Excuse me.” They
all looked over at Devona and for once she wished she wasn’t the center of
attention. “Um…could you please tell me why you are trying to kidnap me?”

“Trying?” asked
the man in peace signs. The hair on the back of her neck stood on ends as she
looked up at him.

“We’re not
kidnapping you,” said Ulric.

She looked up at
him, “Then what would you say you’re doing?”

He was quiet for a
long time and then finally he replied, “Recruiting?”

Her jaw dropped.
Were they in some sort of cult? Oh great, she might not end up raped, but she
was definitely dead! She nodded, pretending to be okay with the news. Just as Ulric
looked away from her, Devona was on her feet and running. Too bad the red head
grabbed her arm, practically knocking both of them off of their feet. The man
in shag helped hold Devona in place.

“Let me go! I’m
not ready to die! Please!” She was frantic. There had been too many amber alerts
lately and she did not want to be one. Most teens who are kidnapped end up dead
or missing for years. Devona was not going to be another statistic! “Please!”

The girl in tie
dye sighed, looking over at Ulric, “I think we should get out of here.”

“Good idea,” he
replied

Devona immediately
dug her heels into the ground, fighting for her position on Earth. There was
still too much left to do and they were not going to take those opportunities
away from her! She still needed to go to prom, get a real job, graduate, go to
college, and fall in love…

“Unfortunately,”
said one of the men holding her future in his hands, but she wasn’t sure which
one, “you don’t have a choice in the matter. Neither do we.”

“We don’t want to
put your through this, but if we don’t Mushin will kill us all!” cried the
little girl.

Mushin?

“Who’s Mushin?”
asked Devona.

“You’ll see soon
enough,” said the girl in tie dye.

As Devona pulled
against her captures, the rest of the group stepped in close around her. They
each looked around and made sure no one else was around. Then the man named Ulric
reached into his pocket. He was going to shoot her, right here and now! Devona’s
heart fell to her feet and she braced herself for the pain.

Instead, he pulled
out a gold coin. He looked at Devona one last time and whispered…

“I’m sorry.”

She couldn’t look
away as he flipped the coin into the air. Her muscles froze and only her eyes
could move and she followed every move of gold intently. The silence that
surrounded her broke her concentration on the coin. She turned to see the
carnival melting away into a dark layer of clouds. She found herself standing
in the middle of a thunder cloud. Lightning lit the area, threatening to bite Devona’s
heels.

“What the—”

Before she could
finish, a harsh wind blew past her, forcing her to close her eyes. The world was
being ripped apart around her. She couldn’t and no longer wanted to watch.
Beads of rain crashed into her cheek. She balled her fists and stood her
ground, hoping that would not fall away as well.

Then, it all
stopped.

Still, she didn’t
want to open her eyes. The two that had still been holding her let go and she
nearly collapsed. Devona struggled to stay on her feet and forced her eyes to
remain shut.

“You have finally
returned,” said a new voice. The tone of the voice was like velvet touching her
ears. It was so sweet and seemingly innocent she couldn’t help but open her
eyes to see the most shocking sight of her life.

Marietta Balogbog:
Well for the flat of story is good but something missing and nut so straight forward I can't fell the sexual story but nut so. But its good book hope I help something for you to write more 👋 👋 👋 see your next book...

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